I'll trust soundhound's guess on the mechanism of the volume control. At a more basic level, the volume control itself takes place in the analog domain, if that's what you are asking.

In most cases, I prefer to use spade lugs for my speaker cables. The connections to my surrounds are bare wire because of space limitations. The connection from amp to wall plate for the surrounds' in-wall wiring is done with bananas because it is most convenient.

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